I have a 2000 Honda Civic and recently my battery died, and two month ago a I stated charging my cel phone on my way to work. Does charging the mobile at your car drains the battery? or my battery was about to die anyway
If you are charging the cell phone while driving, the phone’s charger is actually drawing less current than accessories such as the rear window defogger. Ergo–that charger is not a high current draw.
On the other hand, if you were in the habit of doing this while the car was parked, that would be a good way to kill a battery. Apparently, you were doing the charging while driving, so this practice should not have killed your battery.
How old was that battery?
If it was the original, it was WAY past its normal operating life.
Even if it was the second battery, it could well have been slowly dying, as many batteries do not last beyond 5 years.
Also a factor is how long that commute to work actually is. When engines are started and cars are driven only a short distance before shutting the engine off, the battery never gets fully recharged.
In order to get the most life out of your battery, you need to:
Drive long enough distances to keep it fully charged. If you typically do a lot of short-trip driving, then on weekends you need to take the car out on the highway for ~45 minutes in order to preserve the battery, as well as the engine and the exhaust system. If you can’t get out on the highway for at least 45 minutes each weekend, then you should invest in a trickle-charger for your battery.
Keep the top of the battery, as well as the terminal connections clean. Periodic cleaning with a solution of baking soda and water will neutralize corrosion (that blue-green residue on the terminals).
Make sure that the terminal connections are tight.
Make sure that you turn your lights off when parking the car.
The cell phone charger doesn’t draw enough power to have any effect on the battery.
If you have a good battery then the cell phone should never pull enough current to drain your automotive battery. I keep a cell phone 24/7 in my truck and have never had a battery issue and it’s sometimes parked for days before I drive it. My phone also stops charging when the battery is full. I suspect that most newer phones will as well.
My cell phone charger for the car only charges while the car engine is on. The minute I turn the engine off the light on the charger goes off and the phone no longer indicates that it is charging. Therefore it can not drain the battery if it is left in the “lighter” plug overnight.
Some cars or trucks, especially Dodges, turn on the lighter or chargers only when the ignition is on.
Thanks a lot for all your answers
New battery for more cell phone charging!!!
If charging/maintaining a typical 1.5AH cell phone battery drains your 80AH service battery…
The float current for my cell phone charger in the car is on the order of ~2ma. It’s plugged into a live outlet 24/7. No worries.
I ran an electric fence charger with a car battery that turned the car over slowly, so I replaced the car battery with a new one and used the old battery for the fence charger. It would go a month before I would have to bring it up to charge for a day on a small 6 amp battery charger. I finally got to the point where I would turn the charger on for about a day every other week just to let the horse know that it wasn’t worth checking out the grass on the other side of the fence.
I am certain that the electric fence charger draws more current than is needed to recharge a cell phone battery.
Does a cell phone charger drain the battery? Yes, but only an infinitesimal amount. Think of how long a dripping faucet would take to empty a swimming pool. Of course some cars like the Yaris for example, have more of a child’s wading pool than a proper swimming pool, to continue the analogy…